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Monday, October 27, 2008

If you have been following my posts you know the story that I put claims on the World Series game the first day my husband came home with the post season tickets. The kids laughed thinking that they were going to see the playoffs and I wasn't going to see anything. Hello??

I do feel somewhat bad as 2 out of the 3 kids did see a playoff game. The first playoff game my husband invited his buddie that shares the season tickets. The second set of tickets we had he took my oldest daughter as she wasn't going to be around for the game 6 of the playoffs. That left my son to go to that game if it was to be. As we all know it wasn't.

Meanwhile on the other coast - yeah - CA - my other daughter had tickets to game 5 or whatever it was. She saw that game. She's a traitor though, wore Dodger's gear. Her friend was going to give her up but fortunately didn't. And sadly, my son didn't get to see a game. Do I feel guilty - maybe a little - he still has a chance to see another Philly World Series - me - not.

Now for my World Series adventure!

Normally we drive over to the stadium and park but this time my husband (I have to tell you he takes such good care of me) thought we should take the subway. Now all of you from Phily will have some laughs. I am clueless on where I'm going in Philly if I drive, walk or even take the train. Maybe some of you have even faced me and given me directions. However I do better when I'm lost in Philly then if I'm lost in Camden. They send the police out for me when I'm lost in Camden and that's the God's honest truth. Another story another time. This is my special night!

Ok, now we are in Philly and parking somewhere around 17th and Locust. My husband had this place in mind for dinner. It was right across the way from where we parked.

It was unique and of course I was his date. We entered and the first thing everyone looks for is whether you seat yourself or wait. Why of course we were to wait! Duh? However after two groups seated themselves we attempted but... Yo! you have to be seated. Breathe two times and Wow we got a seat. But who really cares about all that? Was the food good? Was the enthusiasm for the Phillies Boomin? Was the World Series on the minds of this neat little tucked away pub? Of course!

Overwhelmed by the hipe of the Eagles (of course this is football season) they were only happy to serve the fans whomever they were food and drink. The food was the best. My husband had their delicious hamburger and I had a sliced pork sandwich with hot peppers. Can't say enough about the Chardnay I ordered either. Wish I had asked again what it was. First time I had a Charnay in a long time that was not only chilled to perfection but really met my taste. Hmmm...Great start to a great night!

Off to the subway. My husband had already purchased the tokens. He and my daughter had gone over to the stadium and purchased all our World Series shirts etc. and our tokens.

This is always exciting to me. I never know which side of the platform I'm to stand on. Tonight however they were marked, "Express" and "Local". Everyone must have had the same idea as us about taking the train in to the ball park because both sides of the platform were wall to wall people. We stood on the express side and after watching two locals stop and pick up people we knew they weren't running the express train. So the third local that pulled in we scrambled to see how many people could fit into one car. A lot!

You can just feel the electricity in the air as everyone headed up to the street.

We were greeted at the top of the stairs by Septa as they wanted to give us a gift for taking the train.

Joe the pitcher hit a homerun, Howard hit two homeruns, and Werth hit one too. The rally towels were in constant motion throughout the game. I'm not sure why we bought a seat as we stood almost the entire game. One game to go.

We sat around for a bit after the 10 - 2 romp to just soak it all up. What a night to remember. The weather was perfect, not too hot and not too cold. We were so happy that we hadn't had tickets for Saturday night's game - Yuck.

The only complaint I had about our seats was that we were on the wrong side of the park and under the upper section so I wasn't able to take pictures of the fireworks. However as we were walking to the train some enthusiastic fans set some off in the parking lot. See?

By the time we reached our car, fans had already set up rally sights. Everyone was honking their horns, yelling and trying to get high fives while moving.

Naturally after such an experience you have to have some memorabilia. Here's mine:

Saturday, October 25, 2008

I look forward to Thursday nights any more. I love my mother very much but after almost two and a half years of picking her up in the late afternoon for dinner and taking her home after Wheel of Fortune, I need a break. So the only one I get is Thursdays as my brother takes my mother to the hairdressers, out for lunch and then keeps her for dinner.

Last Thursday my daughter was away so it was just my husband and I. We decided to get out of our rut and go out to dinner. We used the gift card for Bonefish Grill my daughter had given us. I can't rave enough over the meal we had there.

This past Thursday my daughter had to work late so we decided to take advantage of the free night once more. This time it was going to be all out of pocket expenses so we toned down our place to go. We went to Hollywood Diner, a very nice local place to eat with a Sports Bar and good food reasonably priced. It's amazing after 36 years we were still able to carry on some kind of conversation over dinner.

I think we discussed a figment of our imagination, retirement and how at this rate it wasn't going to happen. We also talked some politics and how we're hopeful that Obama is elected, the Phillies and how we hope they win and then to my husband's favorite topic John Heald's Blog. I'm linked to it through my Blog and have to say it is a good Blog. We have 259 days until our next cruise. I'm working feverishly on losing weight that just loves me so much that it wants to go on the cruise too.

Don't you just love the way I get off topic so easily?

Anyway on the way into the Diner we happened to see a picture ad of a new restaurant that was under construction out at RiverWinds, a beautiful and large community center that sits in West Deptford on the edge of the Delaware River across from Philadelphia. It is truly an awesome place, particularly the golf course although I'm pretty sure they closed it.

These are just a couple of things that I've created with the beautiful images of the now defunct golf course. It was sold and now is becoming overgrown. What a shame. If you want to see more check them out here.

However it's at the overview of the Delaware that people of all ages love to see the sunset, sunrise or just watch the ships sail and planes land at the river's edge. I had planned to insert some day images so you could see what I meant but they are now missing. I'm sure after I rant and rave when everyone is up that they will magically reappear and I'll then post them. For now you'll just have to enjoy this image. This is looking up the Delaware towards the shipyard.

It's just amazing the beauty that can found almost anywhere. I love the fact that I have a way to capture it and share it with the world. So many people have wonderful pictures that are tucked away in photo albums, filed on their computers or stuffed in boxes. So if you should find yourself wanting to do more with your images go to

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Halloween was always one of my favorite holidays. Even when I was little we used to dress up and try to fool the neighbors. We were only allowed to visit houses in our neighborhood. It was back in a time when all the nasty things that happen today, didn't happen. Yes, it was during the days of Ozzie and Harriet, Leave It To Beaver and the Donna Reed Show.

I think about those days quite often. Life seemed so much simpler then. Just think, mothers stayed at home and took care of the house, raised the kids and depended on their husbands to give them an allowance. Guys had it good. They got up in the morning put on their clean clothes, ate a great breakfast, went to work, came home to a delicious dinner and then read the newspaper. Although they were being filled in on the happenings of the day over the dinner table, where by the way everyone sat and ate, they ignored what they heard. What's wrong with that picture?

Ok, I'm off topic again. At any rate I grew up in a single parent home. Our life might have been like that but my father passed away when I was young. So I learned young to take care of myself and have fun. I guess nowadays I'd have been arrested for some of the mischief I helped create.

Like Mischief night. While the streets of Camden were being set on fire, we were throwing toilet paper and soaping windows. The best though was inserting a pin in one of our neighbor's doorbell and propping a clothes prop against the door so they couldn't open it. Actually that neighbor had two doors with a bell and we did both doors. They had to climb out a window!

We had a nice group of kids on our street with only about 4-5 years differences in age. The families had lived in their houses for years. I don't think anyone ever moved. So when Halloween came around it became a competition among us kids to see who would require the longest time to be guessed. Some of the costumes were great.

One year I went dressed as half man and half woman and that wasn't a front and back thing. My mother helped me sew the costume together. When we got older, high school, we still dressed and went door to door. The funniest of those times was when my husband, his sister and her boyfriend and I dressed up. The guys dressed as girls and we girls dressed as guys. No one guessed us. The guys made some pretty good looking girls. Cross dressing back then wasn't heard of.

Then when I had kids the real fun began. They and their friends still talk about the fun and scary times they have had at our house. I don't have the energy or interest anymore. Most of the kids that come to our door are there just for the treat. God forbid you don't have a treat as your house will be trashed. Very few dress up. They just come in their tees and jeans without a mask.

That's not all bad though. Now it just may be more fun because many people have resorted to having Halloween Parties. Costume companies are doing very well and people are back to dressing up to really trick in order to win a door prize.

Obviously if you're thinking of hosting a Halloween party, you need decorations and of course invitations. The inside is as cool as the front and many come with matching postage.

How about Halloween mugs that can be customized with your guests' names. Or if you don't like what you might find in the many galleries at Firecrackinmama's Online Halloween Party then feel free to design your own!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Yesterday was the first day I put the heater on just to take the chill off the house and I had to do it again today. I don't know if I'm ready for the cold. Right now I want the warmth of the Caribbean, the pampering found on a cruise ship and the excitement of visiting beautiful tropical places.

I didn't even know how good cruising could be until 2005. I always believed I was reincarnated from the Titanic and didn't want to sail again. However my youngest daughter was graduating from the University of Southern California with her Master's Degree and we thought this would be a nice graduation gift for her. My oldest daughter and her friend had sailed before so when they were in the midst of making arrangements for this cruise we jumped aboard. This was our first cruise liner.

Needless to say this was quite an adventure. The day we flew out of Philadelphia to Ft. Lauderdale Hurricane Dennis was aiming for Florida. My oldest daughter and her friend were going to fly down the next day but when they learned our flight was delayed an hour because of the weather, hopped on the next outbound flight that night. My youngest daughter in CA had no choice but to fly in the next morning when Dennis was supposed to hit.

We had a wild night at the hotel too. The winds picked up and the ominous clouds moved in. About 3:00 am the fire alarm went off and we all had to evacuate our rooms. Good thing we were on vacation as I did have nice night clothes and a robe. As we all sat in the lobby until the all clear was given, my husband and I were discussing how we were going to go fetch our youngest if her plane couldn't land. Yep, we were willing to rent a car and go find her, sail or no sail that day.

We finally went back to our rooms but neither of us slept as the wind blew harder. Then around 5:00 am in walked our youngest. Turns out she had some adventure herself. The plane evidently tried to land when it went into a deep dive. She flew Jet Blue which had some type of monitor that showed the plane's position etc. When the pilots regained control they let everyone know that they were going to try to land one more time in Ft. Lauderdale but if something similar happened again they would move on. All's well that ends well.

Dennis hadn't made landfall yet so of course we had to go out in it. Something about a hurricane that dares people to challenge the Gods. It was pretty windy but no rain. Shortly after our outing we boarded a bus for Miami.

You cannot even begin to imagine my excitement. Remember I've never cruised before therefore I took no chances and put a patch behind my ear. We easily went through the formalities of having our pictures taken and sharing greetings as we were warmly welcomed aboard the ship. It was enormous.

I couldn't take pictures fast enough. The horn finally sounded and we were off sailing on the Valor.

Those of you who have sailed before know that the lifeboat drill occurs within the first half hour or so out. The alarm sounded and by the time I figured out, with some help from my husband, how to get the life jacket on, I was determined I'd never take it off. We maneuvered into the mob of passengers headed to their posts. How do they know where to go? I don't know. We just followed.

Eventually we found the deck and were told to move down to a section and stand as far back to the wall as we could. Past cruisers stop laughing. It was bad enough that I had a fear of sailing but I'm claustrophobic as well and not that tall. I'm glad the man that was squishing me against the wall had showered and had deodorant on.

We were packed in there like sardines with at least 7 rows of bodies in front of us. After the drill I told my family not to wait for me at the lifeboats. I've seen Titanic enough to know that I'm either going down with the ship or jumping with my life jacket in hand. I'll figure out how to put it on in the water. Then they reminded me that we would be in warm waters where sharks live. Yep, I have a fear of sharks too.

Fortunately the ship was so gorgeous and full of so many activities that the thought of sinking quickly disappeared from my mind. Our cabin was really cool. We had a balcony and sat out there many times. I couldn't lean over the railing or really get to close to it. Never had a fear of heights until my husband took me on a company trip to the Canary Islands. That's another story.

We had four ports of call on our itinerary. The first was Belize. I couldn't help but take this picture, global warming you know.

I had no idea about excursions and I was really along for the ride so when my youngest selected spelunking my husband and I agreed. First understand that neither of us at the time were very small. My husband is 6'4" and a bit more then he should have weighed. Me, I was and still am down right fat. Never been this fat in my life. Seems the overweight has been creeping up on me over the past years.

Yep, it was a real challenge and if you check out the guide, he's laughing. When we first went in the caves, we were told to turn our headlights off so we could get a true effect of the total darkness. Oops, I had my glow in the dark watch on and Wow did it glow. So much for total darkness.

When we finished spelunking we made our way back through the jungle, ok so it wasn't a real one but hey there was a lot of thick ground cover and everything else, to our vehicles, and then to resting place where they served the best Rum Punch I've ever had . Believe me we all needed and enjoyed it.

Once they had us all relaxed from this very strenuous adventure, we boarded a cigarette boat for our voyage down the Wallace River to our ship. By the way Rum Punch was in abundance throughout that voyage. What a great time!

Well this is getting too long for me too. Time to sign off for now. Maybe I'll finish it on my Firecrackinmama.com and then maybe not. Maybe I'll come back here and tell you the rest of this adventure. It's by no means done.

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